The Witcher 2 - Roundup #5

"We've already done a PC game that doesn't suck. In that way we kinda know where we're at. That's why we started off with what we feel good at," Gop said. "If we'll make a console version in the future, I'm pretty sure it won't be dumbed down. Not in the case of The Witcher 2 - there's no need and no way for us to simplify the game for consoles."

The Story: Like Dragon Age 2 which released earlier this year, The Witcher 2 kicks off with a bit of framed narrative. Geralt starts the game in prison, and it’s his own responses to being interrogated which direct the story and allow the player to chose the order of events during the prologue. Geralt’s interrogator, Vernon Roche, is determined to figure out Geralt’s part in the chaotic events surrounding the blood feud in Temeria, and has threatened the witcher with death should his answers be displeasing. With Geralt as his own narrator the story kicks off, and between dragons, sorceresses, political intrigue and a chance encounter with the Scoia’tael, it looks like there’s a lot to do to make the kingdom safe again.

This is one of the most significant games of 2011. Right now it looks like most significant PC-only game of 2011.

The Witcher 2: Assassins Of Kings is the sequel to 2007′s wonky fantasy RPG, The Witcher, and it improves on that precarious foundation in almost every conceivable way. I suppose the ambition of the developers for their work should have been clear after they relaunched their original game with the voice acting and character animation redone in 2008, to give us an Enhanced Edition, but even that was a pale creature when compared to the muscular effort of their most recent work. The Witcher 2 is a collossal beast in terms of vision and complexity, and it has engrossed me for the past few days. It’s shorter than the original by some measure, but it is burning half as long to be twice as bright.